Glimpse into our Pasts
by AxelDrake
Summary: We all have things hidden in our pasts. Things we like to remember. Others we want to forget. And sometimes, those things are ghosts that haunt us. In this case, literally. These ghosts are things that bring shame. Or maybe the memory of them just hurts.
1. Prologue

_Splash_. _Splash. Splash._

Boots move through the alley way, splashing through puddles and hitting asphalt. The sound of heavy gear rattling around is accompanied by a low, electronic humming sound fills, which fills the space between the brick buildings.

"Hey! I saw him!" a cry comes out from one of the alley's occupants. This voice is deep and smooth. It's owner having dark brown skin and short, black hair. His grey jumpsuit blends well with the ally in the night hours.

"After him!" calls another voice. This person has a much higher pitch and clearly female. Her long, black hair somehow staying out of her face as she tries to keep up with her two taller companions. She is further slowed by bulky armor on her upper body, but her gear is smaller and lighter, so the difference is slightly mitigated.

The three pursuers follow their quarry. Only catching the most trailing glimpse of a glowing green tail. Bolting around corners, never giving any more of a view of itself, their target stays just one step ahead. Coming up on an exit to the maze between buildings, they see the trail disappear through the door of a large and expensive building across the street.

"We're right back where we started, man!" the third person complains, sighing in great exasperation, and some exhaustion, scratching his styled brown hair in frustration. His voice is not quite as deep as his other male companions, but still clearly masculine, and displays his Latino accent that is also made clear my his darker skin tone.. His tan leather vest over his bright green shirt bunching under the gear under his back, forcing him to adjust it.

"No use complaining about it, Eduardo. Let's move," his female companion orders as she moves forward a bit while grabbing Eduardo's goatee to drag him along.

The three cross the street, devoid of any cars at this time of night, and enter the building. Rushing in to the building, the three come up to the elevator, which displays a green goo, dripping down the door.

"Eduardo, you and Kylie will take the stairs. I'll take the elevator, in case it decides to come back down or it stayed in the shaft," their third compatriot suggested.

"You gonna be fine by yourself, Roland?" Kylie asked him.

"It probably went all the way to the top, so I don't think it'll be an issue," Roland told her, answering for her worries.

Kylie nods and heads for the stairs as Eduardo finishes catching his breath before bolting after her. Before the door to the stairwell closes, a faint 'ding' is heard as the elevator door opens for Roland.

Traveling up the stairs at a break-neck pace, Eduardo keeping easy pace behind Kylie, his eyes finding his motivation, the two make it up stairs, to the top floor, floor 15. Kylie plants her, foot firmly into the push bar of the door, small device in hand, and moves in to the hall as the door flies open.

Opening in to a plush, decorated hall, Kylie looks towards the elevator to see that it's only on floor 7. "Come on," she orders, thick Brooklyn accent coming through in her voice, "Rol's gonna take a bit. Let's go join up with Garret and wait there."

Eduardo only nods, out of breath again, as he follows after her, eyes still on their motivation. Reaching the end of the hallway, Eduardo opens the door. He's greeted by the sound of a small explosion on the door frame above him. He shouts out as he dives into the room, keeping next to the wall.

"Whoa! Sorry about that, Eddy. You should have knocked," a masculine voice jokes. Having the same gear on his back as Eduardo and Roland, and holding a gun-like device in his hand, this man, with auburn hair, is wearing a tan jumpsuit, similar to Roland's, he sits in a wheel chair, but having an upper body tone show through his suit to show that all the wheel chair does is give him focus on what to work out.

"Yeah, well I don't think our little friend would come in by opening the door, Garret," he retorted with a little venom in his words.

Garret ignored him. "So where's Roland?"

"Coming up the elevator now," Kylie told him, coming in and closing the door.

"Excuse me," a new voice question, and sounding panicked, "But where is it?"

This new voice belongs to a well-dressed man, cowering on the seat of his couch, peering over the back. His dirty blond hair, perfectly in place, aside from a few strays due to his current mental state.

"Back and the building, and still after you for waking him up," Eduardo casually informed the man, "But don't worry about it. Cause we're scientists."

Kylie and Garret let their eyes roll in their head on reflex now, as they kept their eyes and gear trained on the door. But it's not the door that gets their attention. It's the low rumbling that threatens to shake the whole building apart. Looking around for the source, all of their eyes fall on a grand piano in the corner of the room that shoots up and is thrown out the window, and is accompanied by a crunching metal sound.

Now taking up the corner of the room that the piano sat in is a behemoth of a creature. And almost vestigial lower body is attached to a much more hulking and over developed upper body. Leaning on arms the size of small cars, and leading up to a tiny, featureless head, another distinct aspect of this beast is that parts of it are in objects. A little bit in a book case, some in a pillar. This is a textbook example of a ghost.

The device in Garret's hand buzzes to life as it's primed. "On three!" He shouts.

"THREE!" the defenders yell in unison.

From the front of the gun shaped devices in their hand shoot multi-colored beams that ensnare the savage ghoul. It shouts and bucks, trying to free itself. The strain from its pull is clear on Kylie, Eduardo, and Garret as it fights back. "Kylie! Trap it!" Garret calls to her.

"I can't! It's fighting too much. We need Roland!" She yells back in response.

Almost as soon as these words leave her mouth, the door to the room is slammed open with a boot as Roland storms in, and he immediately fires on the specter, adding his own strength to this tug of war. With back up arriving, Kylie pulls a disk, the size of a hub cap, off of her back, and throws it under the hulking haunt. A trigger remains in her hand after the throw, which she pushes, causing light to erupt from the disk, and dragging the aberration down into it. It clicks shut as Kylie releases the trigger, and smoke rolls off of it.

"Oh thank you so much!" the well-dressed man sings their praises as he comes to them, shaking their hands, "I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't helped. If there's anything I can do aside from the already agreed on pay to help, just let me know."

Eduardo carries himself over to the window that shattered out in to the alley behind the building. "Uh, I think I may have a suggestion."

The other occupants of the room move towards him and look out the window. Underneath the defenestrated piano sits an old white ambulance/hearse style vehicle, with pieces of electronics sticking out from under it, and clearly beyond repair.

"The Ecto," Roland whimpers, barely audible for even those nearby. "Egon is going to be so upset."

"Well, let's go get what we can before the long haul back to the firehouse. Cause I don't know about you, but I could use a nap," Garret spoke, seeming to let the situation not bother him, as he rolled for the door.

"This is gonna be a long walk," Kylie sighed as she grabbed the trap while they exited the building.

-End Prolog-


	2. Chapter 1

Glimpse of the Past

Chapter 1

The sound of an alarm pierced the air. A strong heat filled the room as bodies lifted themselves from their slumber. Groans and moans echoed through the floor.

It's terrible to wake up in the middle of the afternoon.

"Mrph…5 more minutes," Garret mumbled into the pillow from his sleeping place on the couch in the living room of the Ghostbusters fire house.

Roland slowly sat up from his spot beside the couch, slamming a hand down on the alarm, since he was the closet. Without a word, he was up and moving towards the door of the bathroom, his smiley face pajamas not reflecting his current mood in the slightest.

Kylie kicked around as she tried to get a little more sleep from her spot beside the coffee table. However, she fully awoke when her foot struck something soft. The strike was followed by a yelp of pain as Eduardo was up and swearing up a storm while holding his nose.

"I'm so sorry, Eduardo. Are you okay?" she voiced her concern at the injury she had caused.

"I'll live," he mumbled through his hand, covering his nose as he gathered his bedding from the space between the coffee table and the couch, "Why are we even bothering to set an alarm? And for 2 pm, when we only got back at like 9 this morning?"

"Cause we have to go pull the Ecto out from under that piano. Egon's going to talk to the client about getting a new car, but still have to drag the old one back to salvage the gear off of it," Roland informed him, as he walked out of the bathroom, before sticking a toothbrush into his mouth.

Eduardo just waved it off with his hand that wasn't gripping his nose as he walked for the bathroom. Reaching the door at the same time as Kylie, he paused before offering an overly dramatic bow at his waist. "Ladies first," he offered, giving the smoothest tone he could, but given his nose injury, he wasn't even close. She accepted.

Eduardo moved back over to sit on the edge of the couch as Garret got himself situated and ready to move to his chair, when the smell of coffee wafts into the room. The wafting comes from the tray being carried by Janine. "Just how you guys like them," she offered the tray out. Roland passed, having just cleaned his teeth, but handing Garret's mug to him as Eduardo grabs his and Kylie's.

"So, give it to us straight, Janine. How furious is the Professor?" Garret questioned the Ghostbusters secretary.

"Not too bad. He's not very materialistic, and I think he's surprised that it lasted as long as it did. It was a piece of junk when Ray bought it back in the 80's. And considering that the client is paying to replace it, I don't think he really has much he's going to complain about.

"Well, I'm sure the others will feel differently when they find out," Kylie added as she walked out of the bathroom in a knee length black skirt and gray tank top. Eduardo handed her coffee over as he downed his before passing his empty mug to her too, and taking his turn in the restroom to get ready. She walked over to join the rest of them.

"Well, once Garret is ready, we can go. Egon said he was going to call for a flatbed to get the bulk of the Ecto 1, and anything left behind can be put in my trunk," Roland offered.

Everyone quickly finished their morning rituals the best they could away from home before heading out. Summer break had hit, and it felt like it outside. A little over 90 degrees in the shade, and surface of the sun in direct light, it was a blessing that Roland's AC was working. The flatbed was already there by the time they arrived, and with a team effort, the remains of the piano where lifted off and put into the trash. With that task done, and an uneventful return trip to the fire house, they were set upon by a task as soon as they entered the front door.

"We just got some calls. A guy in Queen's who's dead uncle has come back to beat him with a belt, a woman who says she saw her dead twin sister, and a kid who's freaking out about his English teacher who's back from the grave," Janine told them, passing the slips with the information to Kylie.

"Sounds like a lot of unwelcome reunions," Garret smirked, "So let's go lay some problems to rest."

Quickly emptying the debris from the trunk of Roland's car and putting their gear in its place, they quickly headed out, making way for Queen's first.

Pulling up to a small home, the Ghostbusters quickly unloaded and pulled their equipment out and put it on. It was a small, blue, 2 story with a white fence. Pretty standard for the area. Piling out of the Mustang and pulling their packs out of the trunk and onto their backs, they move to the front door. Just before Roland can knock, a shrilled scream carries through the house, more than loud enough for them to hear. Checking the knob and finding it unlocked, Roland opens the door as they all rush in. Finding their way to the scream brings them into the kitchen. Cowering on the floor, next to the stove is a lanky, blonde man. But nothing else is around.

The Ghostbusters unhook their proton guns, sweeping the room. "Where is it? Where's the jerk uncle?" Garret asked him.

The man lifts his head and glances around the room, and relaxes a bit as he pulls himself up off the floor. "He's gone. Oh thank god, he's gone," the man sighs in relief.

Kylie pulls her PKE meter from her belt and sweeps the room. It lets out low electronic sounds as energy arcs from the tips of the antennae. "I'm only getting traces. And only of a class one."

Roland returned his gun to his pack. "Garret, you sweep the first floor. Eduardo and I will take the second. Ky, you interview the client."

Garret gave a nod before rolling out of the kitchen, and Roland found the stairs with Eduardo, going up to the second floor. Kylie took a seat across from the client at the table in the kitchen. A sweep of the house only revealed the same trace as the signal from the kitchen, and even going out into the yard gave nothing more, with the signal going out completely around the fences. Finding that, aside from one threat from the ghost, all it did was roam, all they could do was tell him to call if it shows up again, but there isn't much they can do. The man thanked them for at least giving him the peace of mind that he wasn't going crazy as they left for the next two stop.

The next two became the next two dozen as more calls came in while they were out. Each person saw someone that they personally knew who was dead. Some had been to the funerals, others didn't know about it till years later. Some were family member, others family friends, just friends, or acquaintances. Getting back to the fire house at midnight, they were exhausted, considering their long day yesterday and only 5 hours of sleep earlier. Not even having the energy to properly bed down, the sleeping arrangements were much more haphazard this time. Garret passed out in his wheel chair, Roland in the easy chair, and Eduardo and Kylie found their spots at opposite ends of the couch. However, in their exhaustion and dead sleep, none of them awoke to the PKE meter on the coffee table going off. Nor did the faint blue glow that covered each of them wake any of the others up. Then, the PKE meter fell silent as the glow left.

The next morning, Kylie eyes shot open as she awoke with a start. Still laying down she didn't see Garret or Roland, who should have been in plain view. She tried to move, but she was so comfortable, it was difficult. She was just glad she at least shed the body armor last night. But she didn't remember the couch being so warm. Or that it moved. When she heard a groan, her mind was fully awake as she realized why the couch felt different. Quickly and gently, she pulled herself up and saw that she had shifted to lie on Eduardo, who had apparently also shifted to lie fully on the couch. Feeling her face heat up, she quickly extracted herself, and bolted for the restroom, quickly closing the door as she heard her unexpected sleeping partner start to wake up.

Eduardo woke up from the sudden sensation of it getting a lot colder. Uncomfortably cold. That was strange, given that it was boiling outside. Shrugging it off, he did his best to work the kinks in his neck out from sleeping strangely as he got up and stretched. Seeing that the bathroom was occupied, he went to find the saving grace of anyone who's not a morning person. A nice hot cup of coffee. Finding himself in the kitchen, he stared at Roland and Garret, who were digging into what looked more like a lunch then a dinner, he glanced at the clock to find it to be just after noon. Shrugging, he set to work on starting a pot of coffee.

"So, you sleep well last night, goat boy?" Garret asked between bites of what looked like a nice sized sandwich.

"Not too bad. I've had better," he responded, still half asleep.

"I doubt it," Garret chuckled, a little deviously, but Eduardo just shrugged.

Finding some clean mugs, Eduardo went about fixing two. One with just 6 sugars, just the way he likes it. The other with a dash of cream and 2 sugars. As soon he had finished, Kylie walked in. Eduardo took a sip from his mug as he handed the other to her.

Her face no longer burning, Kylie took a sip, and was clearly surprised. "Who made coffee?"

"You like cream and 2 sugars, right?" Eduardo asked, testing the waters.

Kylie nodded as she took another sip, letting the caffeine wash over her, though the wake up was no longer needed after what happened earlier. "And people say I don't pay attention," he spoke with pride.

Kylie just wandered out of the room, disappearing from view. Eduardo sighs before shrugging and moving his way over to the table. "Don't let it get you down buddy. She'll notice you one day," Garret reassured him.

"You think so?" Eduardo asked, hopefully.

"Yeah, as soon as you become handsome and intelligent, and capable of traveling the world," he said, almost laughing in his face.

Eduardo just glared at him as he began to talk out of the room, right before the alarm went off. Everyone downed any drinks as they made their way downstairs, and got to work.

Eight hours later saw them in the same state they were in the previous night. Exhausted and nothing to show for it. They only changed into their normal cloths, and crawled into Roland's car before being dropped off at their homes. Garret first, followed by Kylie, then Eduardo, before Roland got himself home. Everyone quickly finding their way to bed began to turn in. However, some of them would not be getting the sleep they were looking for.

-End Chapter 1-


End file.
